In an interview with Develop Epic Games President Michael Capps says that console makers need to loosen the stranglehold they have on developers when it comes to pricing. Capps says they need to do this because game revenues have shifted to service and micro-transaction model. Currently developers can't decide what the price of their games on consoles should be because those prices are already set by the console makers.

"Right now we’re not even allowed to change the prices of virtual content," said Capps. "We’re not even allowed to set the prices. I just don’t think this protectionist approach is going to be successful in a world where the price of virtual items changes on a day-today basis."

Capps adds that mobile platforms allow developers to set their own pricing schemes and purchasing virtual goods within an app is much easier too. Finally, he notes that the only way for AA games to make a comeback is if manufacturers forget about a specific price point like $60. If they don't, he says, more developers will simply turn to the PC market - Steam, for example.

"The console manufacturers need to let this happen,” he said. "The best way of driving developers to PC is telling them they have no freedom in what prices they can set for virtual items. It would be great to have the level of freedom that, say, Steam gives you."

Comments

Why wasn't this done sooner. Games tend to either be $15 or less and the $60. Why isn't there somewhere in the middle for games that fit in that category. I would go with Catherine, since I had to rent it because I heard it ws great, but not worth the full sticker price. Which I agreed with.

I can certainly get behind this call for better pricing. There are a number of games that I would never buy at over $40. But if they were to drop to $20-30, I would certainly consider them. This especially helps with smaller developers which don't have name recognition already built up.

Oh yeah, the last thing we would want is for a developer to make something for PC. That would be terrible! Jesus, what happened to you, Epic? Makers of Jill of the Jungle, Jazz Jackrabbit, and frickin' Unreal (Tournament!!!)! What happened?

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ZippyDSMlee: .....win8 hates any left over hidden install partitions from other version of windows....only waste 5 hours finding that out...its ahrder than you think keeping up with 4 or 5 HDDS......03/03/2015 - 4:44am

Matthew Wilson: I am going to pax east, any games you guys want me to check out?03/02/2015 - 11:23pm

ZippyDSMlee: No one remembers the days of Cinemagic and Cynergy eh? :P, meh even MGS is getting to film like....03/02/2015 - 8:44pm

MechaTama31: I was about to get all defensive about liking Metal Gear Solid, but then I saw that he was talking about "cinematic" as a euphemism for "crappy framerate".03/02/2015 - 8:29pm

prh99: Just replace cinematic with the appropriate synonym for poo and you'll have gist of any press release.03/02/2015 - 5:34pm

Monte: Though from a business side, i would agree with the article. While it would be smarter for developers to slow down, you can't expect EA, Activision or ubisoft to do something like that. Nintnedo's gotta get the third party back.02/28/2015 - 4:36pm

Monte: Though it does also help that nintendo's more colorful style is a lot less reliant on graphics than more realistic games. Wind Waker is over 10 years old and still looks good for its age.02/28/2015 - 4:33pm

Monte: With the Wii, nintnedo had the right idea. Hold back on shiny graphics and focus on the gameplay experience. Unfortunatly everyone else keeps pushing for newer graphics and it matters less and less each generation. I can barely notice the difference02/28/2015 - 4:29pm

Monte: ON third party developers; i kinda think they should slow down to nintendo's pace. They bemoan the rising costs of AAA gaming, but then constantly push for the best graphics which is makes up a lot of those costs. Be easier to afford if they held back02/28/2015 - 4:27pm

Matthew Wilson: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/02/28/the-world-is-nintendos-if-only-theyd-take-it/ I think this is a interesting op-ed, but yeah it kind of is stating the obvious.02/28/2015 - 2:52pm